You've decided to take the plunge. Hooray! But it's been a few months of working at home now and you're feeling a little blue. There's nobody to talk to, you've eaten everything in your fridge, emptied your laundry basket and organised your DVDs. And there's still a bunch of things you really, really ought to do but the days roll by and somehow they're not getting done. How do you kickstart your working from home motivation?
1. Don't work in your pyjamas.
Start your day like anyone else - jump in the shower, get dressed, grab some breakfast and then get going. In the time you spend getting ready, you'll be structuring your day in your head (showers make the best thinking spots!) so when you get to your computer, you'll be ready to make the most of it. Think of it like your morning commute. Jumping ahead can be overwhelming and by the time you've gone through your emails and figured out what you've got to do, it's already halfway through the morning and you haven't even washed your face yet. Another good way to get round this is to organise all your meetings for first thing in the morning, which also negates the temptation to lie in.
2. Join a club.
Especially if you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit. Without the office buzz around you, the silence of your living room can soon get pretty deafening. Your motivation dies a slow, agonising death and suddenly, the washing up has never been more enticing. So, how do you keep on chugging, when you're on your own?
Joining a local entrepreneurs group can be really helpful for a motivation boost, building a network and just getting out of the house. One of the friendliest and most constructive meetups I've ever been to is run monthly by Enterprise Nation. If you're a social enterprise, Step and Stone run amazing (and unique!) sessions that give you the chance to talk about what's on your mind and there's plenty more on Meetup.com if you're after something more specific, such as Food Tech Wednesdays where techie food businesses gather once a month.
Meetups make me feel more energetic and give me that 'can't-wait-to-get-going' feeling again. People are super helpful and you don't have to be a networking pro to get involved, as everyone's in the same boat - working on their own and looking to make new friends.
3. Have a break.
As any teenager with looming GCSEs will tell you, it's really important to take regular breaks (KitKat optional). But how do you make sure that a break doesn't turn into the rest of the afternoon?
Getting into a routine really helps, so you know when you'll be taking your next break and when it's got to end. This gives you something to work towards so you can set small, achievable goals and make progress, instead of working halfheartedly throughout the day towards a huge goal that keeps slipping further and further away.
Take a walk, so you know that as soon as you get in again, you'll be going back to work. Don't take breaks at your computer. To stop you heading over to Facebook every ten minutes, try using keepmeout.com, which gives you a slap on the wrist if you're checking in too often or the ominous selfcontrolapp.com which cuts you off your chosen websites for a set time, even if you restart your computer or delete the application. Erk.
4. Love your workspace.
Create a space for you to work in that suits you. Get a chair that you like and a keyboard that clicky-claks the way you prefer it to. Have a jug of water and a glass on the table, as well as all the stationery you need, so you aren't tempted to get up every ten seconds. Keep your space neat and tidy - invest in one of those dorky in/out trays so your paperwork isn't all over the place, distracting you away from what you're supposed to be doing, and a big box to put everything away in when you're done for the day.
Something that really helped me was buying a big screen, so I could see what I was doing. Peering into a laptop doesn't do much for your neck, back or eyes and screens are relatively cheap, coming in at about £100 if you're not after an Apple Thunderbolt Display, and being flat, are pretty easy to slot behind a bookshelf when not in use.
5. Don't start thinking you haven't got a 'real job'.
Because you do! When you start working from home, suddenly everyone thinks you're unemployed, watching daytime telly in your pants and eating Crunchy Nut straight out of the box. While that might have been true once or twice, (we get it, you're human) most of the time you've got loads to do. Set clear boundaries between work and play and stick to them - firmly decline spousal requests to collect things from the post office or do the weekly shop and resist the temptation to joke about how everyday is a weekend, which in the long run can make you start believing it for real. Don't forget: you had the cojones to quit your job for some pretty serious stuff - doing what you love!
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